The win ensures the Japanese maintain their perfect record after five games in Group F and will book their place in the third phase of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifying if they defeat Myanmar when the two teams meet in Japan on June 3.

Football lovers from every corner of Asia have selected a goalkeeper, three defenders and a four-man midfield in previous weeks, now it’s time to crown the tournament’s greatest ever forwards, with countless worthy contenders to choose from.

With a staggering 344 AFC Cup goals between them, we’ve selected the cream of the crop, including players hailing from Europe, Africa and South America, in our star-studded shortlist, now it’s up to you decide the final make-up of our ultimate team. Study our nominees below, and don’t forget to register your vote at the bottom of the page.

As the kick-off date for the historic 2021 edition approaches, the-AFC.com looks back at the 2020 tournament which turned out to be a thrilling affair despite the challenging circumstances.

We kicked off the series in style with fans voting Persepolis FC's Mehdi Abdi Qara as the winner of the Best Headers of 2020, Ramin Rezaeian of Al Duhail topped the Best Free-kicks, Al Nassr's Abdulrahman Al Obaid won the Best Long-Range Goals, Abderrazak Hamdallah's strike against Qatar's Al Saad on Matchday One was voted as the winner of the Best Team Goals, Persepolis' Qara topped the Best Last Minute Goals while his teammate Hamed Lak won the Best Saves.

Our next instalment looks at the goals scored by clinical finishes and invites you, the fan, to tell us which was your favourite.

The two sides were playing their second friendly match this month as they continue their preparations for the resumption of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

Following an eight-month review process involving each of the 12 candidate host cities and 13 stadiums, FIFA is set to announce which cities will host matches for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

“The announcement represents a major milestone on the road to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, which will be the first-ever 32-nation Women’s World Cup," said Football Australia Chief Executive Officer James Johnson.

Former Dutch youth international Huseyin Dogan put pen to paper alongside Ukrainian defender Andriy Mischenko and Japanese utility Ryota Noma, with the trio joining the Tajikistan champions just over two weeks before they begin their continental campaign against Shabab Al Ahli Dubai.

Saad will be the second Lebanese player at Al Wehdat as he will be playing alongside Ahmed Zreik, who joined Al Wehdat last month on loan from 2019 AFC Cup champions Al Ahed.